Which Indian baby boy name more suitable for UK

[Cookiemonster2022]

Hi,
I want to ask your opinion on the following Indian baby boy names-

1. Arav
2. Vian/Vihaan
3. Avik

We have Indian names and have really struggled with people calling us with wrong names. So, we are being careful with our baby's name.
Any suggestions are welcome and also if you can think of any of these being turned into any unpleasant nicknames.

Congratulations on your baby!
It must have been really frustrating for you and your DH to have to cope with people’s ignorance about your names and culture, and you are right to want to protect your son from that, but I have seen a real shift in attitudes towards names in the past couple of decades working in schools.
Your son’s generation will be far more open-minded about names than the one before, if my experience is anything to go by. Not only is the population of the UK far more diverse, but also the range of names that people choose has broadened. I teach kids with names from every corner of the globe, plus what I think of as very old-fashioned British names like Albie and Gloria. Children don’t really pick on each other for what they are called, and if they do (especially for a non-British name) they are at risk of being disciplined at school for racially-motivated harassment.
I like all of the names you’ve chosen, and I would strongly encourage you to choose your personal favourite, not to worry about how it will sound to others. You will be saying and hearing his name far more than anyone else will, after all.

My son has people from all different cultures in his class (he's 4!) and doesn't struggle or question any of their names! Please don't make your choose based on that. Choose a name you love! Xx

Those are all lovely and very straightforward names. I particularly like Vian or Vihaan.

Congratulations!

I really like Vihaan but I think this one would be the most differently pronounced in England and India. Some in England might say Vyan, rhyming with Ryan, whereas I thrink you would pronounce it Vee-haahrn.

I think Vihaan would be really good.

I think quite a few people might not know how the A in Arav and Avik is pronounced (Ay-rav and Ay-vick or Ah-rav and Ah-Vick?)

Thanks for your replies. I like Vihaan. But I have a question- do you think people might confuse it for Vivian which I know is popular girl's name? Any responses are appreciated.

I definitely don't think that people would get confused, but also Vivian and Vivien are male names as well as female

It was my favourite of the three too

Vian

No I don’t think it would be confused with Vivienne

I like Vihaan!

My friend has a little boy called Samir, which some of his friends at school shorten to Sam.

Those who mispronounce ethnic names do so intentionally. It’s a racial micro aggression.
Irish & welsh names very often aren’t phonetically spelt but are pronounced correctly. Botticelli, Michelangelo, Tchaikovsky are all pronounced properly yet Tundi, eman, yael etc, well they’re just mind blowing tongue twisters aren’t they.
Name your lovely boy whatever you so choose and raise him to introduce himself with pride.

I like Arav but it will get pronounced wrong in this country, I'm afraid. Not so keen on Vihaan personally, but I don't think it will get confused with Vivian and it's quite hard to mess up the pronunciation too badly.

I like Vian best of your names but none of them have horrible sounds or nicknames that jump out to me.
Once they are settled in nursery or school the other kids will learn how to say the name and it will be fine.

Arav is lovely.

I personally prefer Vihaan. I think it has a lovely soft/gentle sound. Arav and Avik are nice also but Vihaan is a favourite for me!

@Daydreamsinsantafe

Those who mispronounce ethnic names do so intentionally. It’s a racial micro aggression. Irish & welsh names very often aren’t phonetically spelt but are pronounced correctly. Botticelli, Michelangelo, Tchaikovsky are all pronounced properly yet Tundi, eman, yael etc, well they’re just mind blowing tongue twisters aren’t they. Name your lovely boy whatever you so choose and raise him to introduce himself with pride.

I don’t think it’s true that every person who mispronounces a name is doing so intentionally. And as for Irish names - most threads on here asking about an Irish name will have at least half the replies noting that the pronunciation will be an issue.

If you live in a culture outside your own and use an unfamiliar/uncommon name in that culture people might not know how to pronounce it. Whether that name is Eilidh or Avik.

As for Botticelli etc people pronounce it correctly because they’ve heard it before. It’s not an act of aggression to not know how to pronounce something you’ve never seen or heard.

@Kanaloa I’m assuming this doesn’t impact you personally?
Mispronunciation of ethnic names is high on the list of racial micro aggression.
Teachers giving unwanted nick names at school, bosses & colleagues mispronouncing your name after years of working there...
It’s intentional. Also a topic than can easily be googled.

Vihaan or Ariv are both nice I find Avik a bit harsher sounding and like the softer sound of the first two but that’s just personal choice.

[quote Daydreamsinsantafe]@Kanaloa I’m assuming this doesn’t impact you personally?
Mispronunciation of ethnic names is high on the list of racial micro aggression.
Teachers giving unwanted nick names at school, bosses & colleagues mispronouncing your name after years of working there...
It’s intentional. Also a topic than can easily be googled.[/quote]
I’m not saying some of these behaviours aren’t micro aggressions. I’m saying I don’t believe every single person who mispronounces a name is doing so intentionally to be nasty, and I think you’re incorrect to state that it doesn’t happen with Irish names.

@Daydreamsinsantafe

Those who mispronounce ethnic names do so intentionally. It’s a racial micro aggression. Irish & welsh names very often aren’t phonetically spelt but are pronounced correctly. Botticelli, Michelangelo, Tchaikovsky are all pronounced properly yet Tundi, eman, yael etc, well they’re just mind blowing tongue twisters aren’t they. Name your lovely boy whatever you so choose and raise him to introduce himself with pride.

Not always. Often it's just that they haven't heard it before. Some people do this deliberately, but it's simply not true to suggest it's always intentional.

Welsh and Irish names get mispronounced all the time. As do English names, if you're not amongst English speakers.

I worked with a Neel and an Aran - both nice names. They sound good in English and assume they do in Hindi.

@Cookiemonster2022

Hi, I want to ask your opinion on the following Indian baby boy names-

1. Arav
2. Vian/Vihaan
3. Avik

We have Indian names and have really struggled with people calling us with wrong names. So, we are being careful with our baby's name.
Any suggestions are welcome and also if you can think of any of these being turned into any unpleasant nicknames.

I think the first or last one. Can’t be mispronounced. Second one sounds (I think) a bit like Vivienne which some school kids could be silly about.

I don't like Avik, naturally my accent highlights the A so its sounds like A Vik. A Dick.

Love Vian, I'd pronounce it Vi-ann is that correct?

I do agree that people now are much better an remembering how to pronounce names.

My colleagues heard my name everyday for ten years and still mispronounced my very easy name. “ ooh don’t be so sensitive”, “I’m not going to remember that. I’ll just call you...”.
Someone started the job with a name no one could ever have heard of because it was entirely made up & would you believe it, everyone made an effort to remember their name.

Age old tale that my husband, family & friends will tell. It’s a thing and always has been. Exactly the reason why people like OP look to anglicise names when everyone else should be courteous enough to learn how to pronounce.

Again, this is really something only those affected by will understand and thus form opinion.

@Daydreamsinsantafe

My colleagues heard my name everyday for ten years and still mispronounced my very easy name. “ ooh don’t be so sensitive”, “I’m not going to remember that. I’ll just call you...”. Someone started the job with a name no one could ever have heard of because it was entirely made up & would you believe it, everyone made an effort to remember their name.

Age old tale that my husband, family & friends will tell. It’s a thing and always has been. Exactly the reason why people like OP look to anglicise names when everyone else should be courteous enough to learn how to pronounce.

Again, this is really something only those affected by will understand and thus form opinion.

Someone hearing a name everyday for ten years is clearly doing it on purpose and I'm sorry you work with such terrible people.

Someone who has never heard it before or has only heard it once before, just doesn't know yet.

Those things coexist. It's not correct to say that ALL mispronounciation is deliberate.

@Daydreamsinsantafe

My colleagues heard my name everyday for ten years and still mispronounced my very easy name. “ ooh don’t be so sensitive”, “I’m not going to remember that. I’ll just call you...”. Someone started the job with a name no one could ever have heard of because it was entirely made up & would you believe it, everyone made an effort to remember their name.

Age old tale that my husband, family & friends will tell. It’s a thing and always has been. Exactly the reason why people like OP look to anglicise names when everyone else should be courteous enough to learn how to pronounce.

Again, this is really something only those affected by will understand and thus form opinion.

In those cases it was definitely inappropriate and to be honest verging on bullying in the workplace. Someone seeing the name Naimh and saying ‘how is that pronounced?’ isn’t the same thing and is unfortunately par for the course when using a name that is from a different language than the majority one where you live.